North Korea issues warning to southern neighbour

North Korea’s official news agency warned today that the country’s military will not “sit idle” until “warmongers” launch a pre-emptive strike.

“Everything will be in ashes, not just a sea of fire, if our advanced pre-emptive strike once begins,” the North’s Korean Central News agency said.

The statement issued by an unidentified KCNA military commentator also warned that the North will suspend all scheduled inter-Korean dialogue unless Seoul retracts and apologises for a remark by the new head of the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The joint chiefs’ leader, Kim Tae-young, told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that the military would strike a suspected North Korean nuclear weapons site if Pyongyang attempts to attack the South with atomic bombs.